All-Star Starters Decided

[Andrew]

An interesting choice I read above is Jason Terry. He has really emerged as the second force for the Mavs next to Dirk since Josh Howard is struggling with injuries all season long and Jason Kidd is slowing down calmly.

Terry's making a strong bid for sixth man honours. I don't know if that translates into an All-Star selection, it's likely he'll get overlooked but he's playing as well as anyone coming off the bench. He's still seeing a good amount of minutes though, more than last year in fact.

[Oskar]

AI might have HIS own worst season, but I think he's still deserving it. Who would you rather have ? Rondo, Harris, Vince, Rose, Nelson, who ? He's playing good, maybe not good as before, but still good and I think is good enough for the all star game.

[shadowgrin]

Rondo, Harris, and Rose aren't bad choices over Iverson as far as this season is concerned.

[Oskar]

Rose, despite being my favourite player, slightly over Rondo and Iverson, has quite struggled as of late, but I'd still love to see him there, but Iverson's alright for me, I and many others enjoy watching him. Rondo, he can't shoot, but yeah, I think it should be his position, he's one of the best defenders, a better guard than CP3, honestly (he's not a gambler) and Harris, well yeah, he's doing quite good and could also deserve it.

I'm not sure, but I don't see it such a big problem that AI got it, he's not playing that bad.

[Andrew]

It's not like Jacque Vaughn was voted in to start, AI's still someone who can be recognised as an All-Star calibre talent even if this isn't his finest season, I too can live with it. Besides, 9/10 isn't bad and a couple of iffy selections here and there aren't going to ruin the game.

[benji]

Except, AI is not an all-star caliber player this season. He's above-average at best. We aren't talking about Delonte West as an All-Star, we certainly shouldn't be talking about Allen Iverson.

Who would you rather have ? Rondo, Harris, Vince, Rose, Nelson, who ?

Sure, especially Rondo and Harris. We'll also include Ray Allen, Mike Bibby, Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Jose Calderon, Joe Johnson as easily better choices...

[Andrew]

Absolutely, he's not playing at an All-Star level by his own standards or anyone else's but I'm guessing his talent is still there and is probably still capable of playing at an All-Star level, in that respect I'd still consider him an All-Star calibre player...albeit one who's not performing at that level this season, which makes it a questionable distinction.

[NovU]

Sad to see a superstar declining so fast whether it's due to his new role or not, I think most of people expected more out of him. Well, he still has enough fans to send him to Phoenix as a starter so I guess that's that.

It's the coaching staff that doesn't know how to use Iverson to get wins

I hope it's true. I'm AI fan myself. Who wouldn't love this underdog if watched him playing in his finals year. But at this stage it seems his style of play doesn't quite mix well with most of players. He seems to need great stats to be effective and requires some sacrifise from teammates.

[Andrew]

I don't think it's necessarily him declining, if he were still in Denver he'd probably be posting similar numbers to last season. There has to be some slippage at this point but I'm inclined to think it's just the situation at this point. He's likely out of Detroit by the end of the season if not sooner though, so we'll see sooner rather than later.

[Fcuk Orlando]

Wow. A couple of changes since the last returns. Good to see Amare and Paul eventually getting the nod ahead of Carmelo and McGrady. I do find it funny that Bruce Bowen ultimately ended up third among West Forwards. We were only 68,031 votes away from Bruce Bowen starting the All-Star game.

Seriously, who the hell voted for Bruce Bowen?
I think with a little extra help from the people holding the Starbury/Yi voting campaigns, Bowen could get into the starting line-up next year and upset quite a bit of people.

Bruce Bowen had a few basketball clinics in China

[Oskar]

I don't think it's necessarily him declining, if he were still in Denver he'd probably be posting similar numbers to last season. There has to be some slippage at this point but I'm inclined to think it's just the situation at this point. He's likely out of Detroit by the end of the season if not sooner though, so we'll see sooner rather than later.

I'm not talking about the numbers, but I can't accept the fact that some people actually think Iverson's the reason of Pistons' bad season. He's playing his role good and that's the only thing that matters - and would you seriously have Calderon over Iverson in the ASG ? It's not about who should be in there, based on their records and all, it's who should be there, based on how many people actually want to see him there, and I'm sure tons of people would love AI instead of Calderon there, knowing the fact that Iverson can easily overplay Calderon (Rondo, Harris, Iggy and so on ..) and even I think that he can offer much more than any of the other guys in the All-Star game, he's got the experience and all, which means he can actually bring something to the weekend, highlights, fancyness, etc.

I agree, that the younger, inexperienced guys like Rondo, Calderon etc., who might deserve it more in some people's eyes, somehow do deserve it more, just to get experience, but there we go - ASG isn't something like playoffs, it's a joy for people to watch, it's a show with performers, practically. It's a joy to see those young guys and the ones that deserve it a little bit more than AI does, but I'm not going to talk against myself, because I'd have Iverson there over most of the guys (except for Rondo and Rose).

I'm sleepy btw, so I might aswell find out after two days that this post is a complete trash - I hope it's not, though.

[benji]

it's who should be there, based on how many people actually want to see him there

Then why were you talking about Iverson's play on the court and using that as to why he is deserving?

I'm not talking about the numbers, but I can't accept the fact that some people actually think Iverson's the reason of Pistons' bad season. He's playing his role good and that's the only thing that matters

How is the Iverson trade not the underlying fault of the Pistons season? What is his role and how is he playing it well? You keep saying he has some specific role and that he's doing it, but you have yet to tell anyone what this role is other than screwing up the offense.

They were one of the best teams in the league on offense and a 60 win team. They traded Billups (a mid-range usage, high efficiency player) for Iverson (a high usage, low efficiency player). They are now one of the worst teams on offense and falling apart overall. This doesn't seem that complicated.

Plus he's insecure with all those tattoos.

[Andrew]

I'm not talking about the numbers, but I can't accept the fact that some people actually think Iverson's the reason of Pistons' bad season. He's playing his role good and that's the only thing that matters - and would you seriously have Calderon over Iverson in the ASG ? It's not about who should be in there, based on their records and all, it's who should be there, based on how many people actually want to see him there, and I'm sure tons of people would love AI instead of Calderon there, knowing the fact that Iverson can easily overplay Calderon (Rondo, Harris, Iggy and so on ..) and even I think that he can offer much more than any of the other guys in the All-Star game, he's got the experience and all, which means he can actually bring something to the weekend, highlights, fancyness, etc.

Agreed, I myself don't have a big problem with Iverson starting because I believe he's still an All-Star talent in so much as his abilities are still there if the production isn't and he's the type of player who can thrive and be entertaining in the All-Star game and enough of the people who are interested enough in the event to vote wanted to see him selected so I say so be it. But it is worth noting the production and it's always interesting to talk about the snubs and whether or not players "deserve" to be there. It's a bit iffy but it's not as though a player who in no way, shape or form could ever be considered a top talent in the league was voted in to start. It'll hardly spoil the game in the grand scheme of things.

[benji]

Correct. The game is meaningless and boring as it is. And they've always been picking boring losers like Iverson, Steve Francis, and Antoine Walker to play in it.

It'd just be nice if the media, and certain fans, would stop equating All-Star or any other similar award status as anything more than popularity. (see: "[x] is great because he's an All-Star, or MVP, or etc.") And it'd be better if fans picked the entire teams instead of the silly pretending that the coaches are doing anything useful. That "worst all-stars" list I compiled months back just made it evident that coaches have no clue. Fans generally are fine with 9/10, as in this case where they chose nine legitimate top players at their positions and an insecure loser.

[Andrew]

I don't find the game all that boring myself but I guess that's just me. Some years are better than others.

[NovU]

Of course, it'd be better if players actually played some D, but I can live with it. Still it's great to see all the superstars on the court at the same time.

Skills Challenge is another good game of ASW. It's pretty fun to watch, while Dunk Contest got boring as hell, as dunkers try to do too much now days. Creativity is good but only to certain degrees since many just ends up making fool out of themselves. 3 PT contest sure is and has always been interesting to watch too. Well, overall, I find ASW always entertaining, although I think it can get better if there were more competitive spirits around in the games. Maybe, better rewards could solve this problems... I dunno... Cuz the ASW also means short lil vacation time for the players.

[benji]

That's All-Star Weekend. Not the All-Star Game.

[NovU]

My bad.

[Andrew]

I find the game itself fun to watch more often than not. Teams have 82 regular season games and two months of the Playoffs to play serious basketball. I don't mind the attempts to put on a show, the individual games of "Can you top this?" and other shenanigans that precede a competitive fourth quarter if the scores are close. I guess I prefer the All-Star games that are competitive throughout with some spectacular stuff thrown in but if ever there's a game where it's appropriate to strut your stuff and try to put on a show for the fans, that would be the All-Star game.

[erik_twism]

I guess it would be easy to make the game competitive, just say the wining team (East or West) gets the homecourt in the finals game 7, so players like Kobe, Paul, LeBron, Garnett... would have something to play for. But if you do this you won´t see so many highlights and loose the fun aspect of the game an Iam looking forward to see Shaqs nasty crossover again.

[Andrew]

It would be too gimmicky and render the homecourt advantage won by regular season records potentially meaningless because of an exhibition game. If bragging rights aren't enough to make the game competitive as well as a personal showcase, then perhaps put some major prize money on the line, winners take all.

[erik_twism]

If I remember correctly this "homecourt decided by allstar game" is done by the Major League Baseball since 2003, so it´s definetly possible.
I don´t think it would be good to do such a thing, i like the game the way it is. You have so many competitve games in the year, it´s nice to see a fun game with great highlights and some funny stuff.

perhaps put some major prize money on the line

i guess Tyrus Thomas would like that

[Matthew]

Ben, haven't you been defending the selection process for all star players? If so, how can you say Iverson is not all star calibur if he is what the fans want to see?

[[Q]]

Don't think Nash will make it this year. my guesses:

West-C:Shaq,
F:Dirk,Melo,Duncan,
G:Roy,Billups,Parker.
East-C:Bosh,Lee,
F:Granger,J.Johnson,Pierce,
G:Harris, Nelson.


i would say rashard has an outside chance but i picked Pierce over him becuase he's on the Celtics.

[Andrew]

Those are solid picks, though Duncan's in as a starter so he definitely can't be selected as a reserve.